January 8 – The UK singles chart is tabulated from this week forward by The Gallup Organization. In 1984 electronic terminals will be used in selected stores to gather sales information, and the old "sales diary" method will be gradually phased out over the next few years.

February 26 – Michael Jackson's Thriller album hits #1 on the US charts, the first of thirty-seven (non-consecutive) weeks it would spend there on its way to becoming the biggest-selling album of all time.

February 28 – U2 releases their 3rd album War which debuts at #1 in the UK and produces the band's first international hit single.

March 2 – Compact discs go on sale in the United States. They had first been released in Japan the previous October.

US Interior Secretary James G. Watt causes controversy when he effectively bans the Beach Boys from a return performance at the Fourth of July festivities in Washington, announcing that Wayne Newton would perform instead. Watt claims that rock bands attract "the wrong element". That same week President Reagan, himself an avowed Beach Boys fan, presents Watt with a plaster foot with a hole in it, symbolizing that Watt had shot himself in the foot.

The Motown 25 Special airs on NBC, celebrating a quarter century of Motown Records. The most talked-about performance is by Michael Jackson, who unveils his famous moonwalk dance move during an electrifying performance of "Billie Jean".

May 28-30 and June 4 – The second US Festival is held at Glen Helen Park in California.

June 18-19 – Menudo's second visit to New York is an even bigger event. This time, the band plays four shows at Madison Square Garden; all 80,000 available tickets had sold out within three days of going on sale.

July 1-Chilean Band Los Prisioneros debuted at the Miguel Leon Prado High School Song festival. They would personify the rebellion of young Chileans leading to protests which eventually ousted Augusto Pinochet[1]

September 30 – Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott apologizes on an El Paso radio station for the racial slur he made while referring to the city on September 7. The band later follows up the apology with donations to Hispanic charities.